Brandsmart's Owner Back In Court

Perlman Being Retried On Tax Charges

January 12, 1996|By WARREN RICHEY Staff Writer

For the second time within a year, BrandsMart owner Robert Perlman is on trial in federal court facing allegations that he instructed his employees and accountants to falsify company records to evade paying federal income taxes.

The owner and founder of the BrandsMart discount electronics and appliance chain is charged with seven counts of tax evasion and filing false tax returns from 1986 to 1988.

Internal Revenue Service agents calculate he owes $3.2 million in back taxes.

Perlman, 63, faces up to three years in prison if convicted, according to federal sentencing guidelines. He denies the government's allegations.

He stood trial on the same charges in May, but that case ended in mistrial after the 12-member jury announced it was deadlocked.

The current case before U.S. District Judge Jose Gonzalez in Fort Lauderdale is expected to span four weeks.

"The defendant manipulated his books and records to evade paying his fair share of taxes," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin Goldberg during his opening statement on Thursday. "We are talking millions of dollars in taxable income avoided in three years. We are talking about millions of dollars wiped off the books."

Defense attorney Edward Shohat told the 12 jurors and four alternates that federal prosecutors and agents were relying on a flawed analysis of Perlman's records and on witnesses who had grudges against Perlman.

"The government has made some absolutely unbelievable mistakes in looking at the books and records of BrandsMart," Shohat said. "The government is wrong. They have been shown they are wrong and they refuse to admit it."

Shohat said his client merely followed acceptable business practices to calculate how much he owed in taxes.

"Bob Perlman, like you and I and everyone in the country, only wants to pay his fair share of taxes," Shohat said. "The evidence is going to show that's what he did."

In his opening statement, prosecutor Goldberg said he found BrandsMart newspaper ads ironic because Perlman portrayed himself in an Uncle Sam outfit of red, white and blue.

"At the same time he is wrapping himself in the United States flag," Goldberg said, "behind the scenes he manipulated his books, he selected the income he wanted to report [on his tax returns), and then he paid a lot less tax."

The prosecutor said the government would call as witnesses four former BrandsMart officials, including two comptrollers, an operations manager, and a computer manager.

Shohat said the government's witnesses were misinformed, mistaken or just liars.

"Each one has a deep-seeded dislike, even a hate, for Bob Perlman," he said. The trial is expected to continue on Tuesday.